Financialisation: a 21st century commercial determinant of health equity

Abstract

In 21st century capitalism, financial markets reign supreme. The elevation of investing, trading, and speculating as a way of making profit has shifted economic power towards institutional investors and enhanced the power of financial capital. Financialisation has introduced uncertainty in the commitment to public provision of goods and services. The behaviours of corporations focus more on profit for shareholders and senior executives to the detriment of wages, worker protections, livelihoods, and impact on prices and the environment. The practices of this financial system pose major challenges to public health and planetary health equity through the influence on social inequality, climate change, and health outcomes. The aim of this Viewpoint is to expand the understanding of the commercial determinants of health to explicitly include the financial system and present key plausible pathways via which the financialisation of advanced economies influences public health and planetary health equity. The global public health community must pay close attention to these key commercial determinants of health. It is now crucial to reduce the power of financial actors and hold financial actors accountable. Civil society groups can highlight their practices, articulate alternative visions, and hold financial actors and governments to account. Interdisciplinary research must provide a diagnosis of the financial and public health issues, and, importantly, illuminate effective pathways forward. Financial and commercial worlds must return to stakeholder primacy rather than that of the shareholder.